Holidays and education travel group Cox and Kings is eyeing over 12 per cent expansion in revenue this financial year on the back of growing domestic travel industry. “This year the quarter one has been good and we expect to achieve over 12 per cent growth in revenue in FY18, mainly on account of robust domestic business,” said Peter Kerkar, group CEO, Cox and Kings. The company’s revenue stood at INR 7,176 crore in FY17. The company, he said, is focusing on increasing the franchise base and also band promotions through a tie-up with Bollywood. “Going forward, we are focused on increasing our franchise base in the country from the current 150 cities. We will also promote our brand through a tie-up with Bollywood projects,” he added.
Kerkar said the company’s MICE business, both in the domestic market and overseas, was robust. “Our MICE business is robust. In India, destinations like Hyderabad, Kochi, Bengaluru, Goa, Jaipur, Agra, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala and Odisha are much in demand. “For overseas destinations, corporates mostly prefer short haul places. However, long haul countries like the US, Europe, South Africa and Australia are also much in demand,” he added. Talking about its arm Meininger Hotels, Kerkar said Cox and Kings is planning to have 15,000 beds by 2020.
Meininger currently operates 17 hotels with up to over 8,000 beds in 11 European cities, including Amsterdam, Berlin, Brussels, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Cologne, London, Munich, Salzburg, Vienna and Copenhagen, he added. The company is a subsidiary of Holidaybreak, a travel group specialising in educational and activity holidays. Holidaybreak is a subsidiary of Prometheon Holdings (UK), which is a part of Cox and Kings. “For Holidaybreak expansion, we spend around INR 200 crore a year or every other year on capex. Recently, we have acquired three new properties. One is in Suffolk, one is in Yorkshire and the third was in Australia, which is our third property in Australia. Our ambition is that if we can put on five per cent capacity every year, that is a pretty good growth rate to look at in terms of capacity,” he said. Talking about Holidaybreak in India, he said land is an issue but there is always a market here. “We have been looking at India for a long time. However, to set up here we need land, which is an issue here. There is always a market here,” he added.